Skillets and Plantain Pancakes

During the summer of 2013 I bought a new non-toxic, non-stick skillet by Green Pan.  This pan was pretty remarkable, and very non-stick for at least the first 8 months.  But with daily use it started to deteriorate.  Add to that a trip to the North Shore where I cooked with it over an open fire, it's really started to lose it's slickness. With a Christmas Amazon gift card I set my sights on a new skillet.  I didn't want to purchase another Green Pan knowing how much we use it, I wanted something that would last longer than 8 months.  This is a mindset that continues to pop up for me a lot recently; the desire to spend more on a high quality product, but have it for a really long time.  After bouncing back and forth between cast iron, some other brands of ceramic coated pans, and stainless steel, I settled on a hard-anodized aluminum 9.5" fry pan by Le-Creuset.  Some people will be aghast at the fact that I'm cooking on aluminum since studies have shown that people with Alzheimer's disease sometimes have plaques in their brain containing aluminum.  I'm not worried.  hard-anodized aluminum does not chip and flake, or give off toxic fumes like teflon.  As long as you follow the cooking and washing guidelines, this type of cook wear will last almost a lifetime, and will not leach aluminum into your food.  So far we've cooked mostly eggs in it, and just as we had hoped...THEY DON'T STICK!  Even though it's non-stick you can get a little browning on vegetables and meats as long as you don't put too much oil in it.  Not that you need to.  My over-easy eggs are so easy to flip, no more ripping the bottom and having my luscious yolk spill onto the hot surface.

Eggs over sauteed kale + Pumpkin Pancakes

I've been making lots of Paleo Plantain Pancakes for Ryan and I since discovering Sara Ballantyne's recipe.  So many gluten free/paleo recipes can be disappointing, but this one tastes almost exactly like a real pancake, and has the right texture too.  They have replaced my highly processed GF toast, and are my new favorite afterwork snack.  Coming home at 8:30pm with dinner at 4pm, can lead to some seriously weird and not always healthy late night snacking habits.  Chocolate and Almond Butter by the spoon-full anyone?  Keeping these pancakes in the freezer means I can easily come home, heat up a couple, top with coconut butter or almond butter and then get myself ready for bed.  If you cant find any plantains, they can be easily replace with pumpkin or banana.  *Note, that for people following a low carb diet, pumpkin would be a more appropriate choice.

1/6 of the recipe
192kcal
11g fat, 9g saturated
23g carb *(6g if made with pumpkin)
2g fiber
3g protein